Power for the Peaceful: A Course in Tao

Dec 10 2024 67 ep. 29 mins 13

Power for the Peaceful: A Course in Tao Podcast artwork

What is Taoism/Daoism? "Power for the Peaceful" is an introductory course PLUS life-applications of the 81 verses of the Tao te Ching, a 2500 year-old Chinese text that has lost nothing of its power for peace today.

Religion & Spirituality

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Verse 60: Easy Does It!

Dec 10 2024 35 mins

Wu-Wei makes another appearance in Verse 60. Herein we discover how Wu-Wei is not a total “non-doing,” but knowing when to retire from doing just enough. Wu-Wei is not hands off. It’s knowing when to retire your hands-on. We speak of application to educators, governors, parents, and in this verse, even cooks and chefs! Chandler Schroeder returns for another round at the mic

Verse 59: "Soul Force"

Nov 15 2024 27 mins

When did Noah build the Ark, goes the popular wisdom? Before the rain. Preparation for the days of too much or too less seem to be a good practice. To live as we ought is joy. This Verse 59 talks about how to live so that we, and that which we love, endures. It’s simple: Find your joy, and spread it around. Thanks to Lauren Lausen for your voice, time, and what you do. May all o

Verse 58 "The Light Touch"

Oct 24 2024 33 mins

The Taoist Sage is calm, even in the toughest – or the best – situations life offers. That sage models resilient peace in every situation, not resorting to thought- and conversation-killing cliches or ego maneuvers. That’s why they can join ANYone, ANYwhere, and bring peace, needed help? Why? Their egos are parked! Thank you Kimberly Mason for your calm presence and help on t

Verse 57: “Politics and Wu-Wei”

Oct 17 2024 53 mins

The personal becomes public in this Verse 57. You who attempt to practice Wu-Wei in your life, or family … what if the government and rulers practiced Wu-Wei as well as you practice? What might happen and not happen in a Wu-Wei-informed government? Whoa! Stuart Lamkin joins me to discuss this verse. His insights are wise and timely, and the reason why this episode is longer. May

Verse 56: ‘Lessons in the Dust’

Sep 14 2024 28 mins

This verse starts off with one of the two most famous proverbs in the Tao te Ching: Those who know do not talk. Those who talk do not know. Talking-up Tao ain’t walking the Tao Path. In the silence, the word-free spaces, are where we then develop the wisdom on how to live wisely, peaceably, and in service to others. Listening more than talking actually gives one cred among people

Bonus Episode 06: The Divine Pronouns

Sep 08 2024 23 mins

A theologian I read, Paul Tillich wrote: We must abandon the external high and mighty images in which the theistic God has historically been perceived and replace them with internal depth images of a deity who is not apart from us, but who is the very core and ground of all that is. I invite us to see the entire universe as God’s body. That is, there is nowhere, and no time, wher

Verse 55: "Made for Joy!"

Sep 04 2024 28 mins

Verse 55 speaks about the qualities of a person so rooted in Tao they are spontaneously joyful, artless and not contrived, because conforming with the Changeless Tao is the only enlightened way to live. Teased out in this verse is how we exchange this birthright in Tao with a mess of something we have no business messing in. We have seven voices today, and I hope this is a feast in

Verse 54: "Roots, and Fruits"

Aug 24 2024 28 mins

Verse 54 teaches that Tao and its practice are a single events, moment by moment, but we may see them as two phases: (i) Knowing our roots in Tao, and (ii) regarding all through this eternal rootage. This has wonderful implications for the Golden Rule, which I attempt to upgrade as “always do first, as you would be done by.” May your days begin rooted in Peace, so you may know

Verse 53: "Lowered Ceilings"

Aug 03 2024 35 mins

This verse 53’s episode, on “Lowered Ceilings,” is a call for the inner self not to compromise on the single, or the very few important things in life … like following the level and straight path of the Great Tao, and not becoming side-tracked by the many sideways of fruitless action and thinking over and over again those thoughts that take us nowhere but round and round in

Verse 52: "Mother & Child Reunion"

Jul 14 2024 32 mins

Verse 52 takes us on a wild but life-affirming ride that Tao is our Grand and Prolific Mother, who invites all her creations – all her children – to a family reunion that never stops. Chandler Schroeder is my accompanying voice this time. In the episode, I make a new call for listeners to contact me for two reasons: (i) to be a reader and question-asker on a future podcast, an